Oh Firenze

This is been such a fun week so far, and tomorrow we leave for Rome! Heres the breakdown:

Monday: I was so exhausted still from Paris and barely made it to class... it was seriously a toss up when my alarm went off.  In cooking class, my group made risotto with saffron which was amazing! The other groups made a beef thing and apple strudel! 

Risotto that we made!

 

The rest of my Monday was pretty uneventful because I was so tired! I went grocery shopping, cooked dinner and went to bed around 10! It felt so good to finally get a good nights sleep!

Tuesday: Valentines Day in Florence! Between my classes, I met Jenna at the market and got some fresh produce and prosciutto (which I am OBSESSED with) and looked around the leather market some. On my way home after class, I stopped by the chocolate festival going on this week which is so cool! The entire piazza is covered in stands selling gourmet chocolate, spiced wine etc. I got a fruit kabob dipped in chocolate which was obviously awful... kidding it was so good!  Then for dinner, Stephanie, Jenna and Brianna cooked a Valentines meal for our little florence group! It was so much fun and the food was so good.. they actually know how to cook! We sat around drinking wine and chatting for a while, but unfortunately I had to study for my Italian quiz on Wednesday, so I had to leave around 10.  

Wednesday:  I had my Italian quiz which went surprisingly well! After class I stopped in at the cafe under my apartment and chatted with the cute old lady who owns it.  She speaks very little English and I speak very little Italian, so our conversations involve a lot of gestures and guessing.  What I have learned is that if all else fails, smiling and nodding is a good plan B.  For dinner, I met a bunch of girls at Gusta Pizza which never gets old.  We all got heart shaped pizzas, which I have realized just gives us less pizza than a normal shaped one! Those tricky Gusta guys! After dinner, around 10 we went to a shot bar and had a few drinks before heading to a discotecca.  It was seriously the craziest thing I have ever been in! It was really dark with flashing lights and about 100 more people than should have been in there!  I met some new Pablos and danced a lot, overall it was a really fun night! Since the discotecca was right by Jenna/Stephanie/Brianna's apartment, I crashed there (as opposed to walking home alone).  We didn't realize till we got back, but it was about 4 in the morning! Such a fun night! 

Thursday: A lot of us don't have classes on Thursdays, so Brianna, Emily and I decided to have a cultural day in Florence today.  The weather for the first time in what seems like forever is so beautiful and warm! We went and got paninis and sat on the steps of the Santa Spirito church for probably an hour. The sun was shining right on us and it was so nice to just be outside and not be wearing 10 layers! After lunch, we got some gelato and sat on the bridge facing the Ponte Vecchio for about 20 minutes. A police officer came over and told us that it was "impossible" to sit there, which is funny because it was pretty possible. Sometimes the language barrier is really funny!  Then we headed to the leather market because I wanted to buy a leather jacket (a birthday present from my parents).  We went to Massimo leather which several TCU students have used and I found a really cute one! 

Gorgeous day in Florence!

Brianna and I with Massimo and our new jackets!

After jacket shopping, we met up with Jenna and Stephanie and went to the Salvatore Ferragamo museum which is so cool! He was a really famous shoe designer that designed for Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn etc.  The museum is a collection of his designs and inspirations and is really well put together.  The shoes are really more art than shoes, its hard to believe that people actually wore some of what he designed!  It was also really crazy to think that someone is creative enough to come up with all of what was in the museum.  Embarrassing moment, I accidentally pulled the emergency cord in the bathroom and the security guards came running in.  I had to explain that I'm a stupid American...from the looks on their faces I could tell thats what they were thinking too.  

Tomorrow we are going to Rome for the weekend with the TCU group which will be really great! Even better though is that the weather is going to be in the 50s!!! Seriously, I have never been so excited for warm weather! I'll write all about Rome when I get back! Hope all of yall have great weekends!

Heres one more picture from today! Lots of love from Florence!